What is best air cooler in 2013? - Page 2

The Mine 2 is not quite as good from my experience, more on the level of a Thermalright HR-02 Macho, wich is still very good. The Genesis definately deserves a mention, but it's kinda specialized for lower airflow situations.

The absolute best on the market right now is the Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme. Following that, look at the Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E, Noctua NH-D14, Phanteks TC14PE, Zalman CNPS12X, BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 2, Deepcool/Logysis Assassin/Alpenfohn K2, Silverstone HE01, and even the Thermaltake Frio Extreme (though that last one isn't my favorite for the money). It's a little hard to name any one of those king since testing varies and there's no consensus on the best, though the Silver Arrow SB-E, TC14PE, and Dark Rock Pro 2 tend to round out the top with the NH-D14 and CNPS12X following and the Assassin/K2 and Frio Extreme closely following those.

The bigger determining questions are your tolerance for noise and your aesthetic.

Zalman CNPS12X has fans that can't be swapped though ; Frio is supposedly very loud ,as is the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme

Another reason to go with Phanteks or Noctua is the compatibility charts for motherboards

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Originally Posted by Elohim

Nubbinator summed it up pretty good. I'd also add the Thermalright Archon SBE X2 and the NZXT Havik 140 to the list though.

That being said, the Phanteks is arguably the best out of all, just looking at the heatsink. It's great fanless as well as with higher speed fans. The build quality is also top notch. The fans are only mediocre though. But if you want the "best cooler" you might want to chose your own fans anyway.

Makes you wonder if a Phanteks with Be Quiet Silent Wings would be the best overall (thermals, noise) and not look terrible doing so.

The Zalman also regularly drops to $50 or $60 though. The lack of replaceable fans does ding points for me, but it's an amazing deal at $60.

OP wasn't asking about noise though, thus the inclusion of the Frio Extreme. I think it's generally way overpriced and loud, but it does perform pretty well.

The Assassin/K2 performance really depends on the review you look at. Some show it lagging behind the SA and NH-D14, some show it ahead. That's why I always hate crowning one "king" since they're all so close in performance and they trade places depending on the reviewer.

At the end of the day, I was picking between the Phanteks TC14PE, Thermalright SIlver Arrow, and Noctua NH-D14. The reasons why I got the Noctua was I knew it was quiet out of the box, fits in my case, fits my motherboard (compatibility chart)... and was $20-30 cheaper. The Phanteks would have cost me about $120 after fan swap.

The Mine 2 is not quite as good from my experience, more on the level of a Thermalright HR-02 Macho, wich is still very good. The Genesis definately deserves a mention, but it's kinda specialized for lower airflow situations.

The main drawback of the Mine 2 is the single stock fan. With two 140mm fans, the cooler is up there with the best of the lot. I remember a very detailed review, comparing NH-D14, Silver Arrow (original, not SB-E) and Mine 2. The Mine 2, using 2x 140mm reference fans was ahead of the others in high-airflow tests (1500+ rpm) and slightly less effective than the others with low-speed fans.

Considering that a Mine 2 + second fan is still cheaper than the other dual-towers on the market, i wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. Assuming you can deal with the annoying mounting system.

Makes you wonder if a Phanteks with Be Quiet Silent Wings would be the best overall (thermals, noise) and not look terrible doing so.

I've also heard the Frio is loud
But the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme at the same temps as Silver Arrow SB-E is the same volume. If you want another 7c of cooler than it get louder as you go above 1300rpm.

That's the thing most reviews don't show. That the top cooling coolers only loose a few unneeded degrees of cooling to become quiet. I've ran Silver Arrow, Silver Arrow SB-E SE, Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme, Phanteks PH-TC14PE and Noctua NH-D14. on my 920 @ 3.55GHz and under full load 50c the fans run 1300rpm ish. If I let the heat go to low 60's they cool at about 1000rpm... not loud at all. I'm rendering right now and it's and fans are running 1050rpm.. just loud enough to hear under desk.

I can't decide what my favorite combo is SA SB-E Extreme or TC14PE with TY-143 fans.

Compatibility can be an issue with SA SB-E on occasion. But I've heard of people having problems with many of the big coolers and the top PCI slot. Even TC14PE fan clips on occasion.